1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surgical forceps adapted to grip tissue, blood vessels and walls of organs without causing injury thereto, and to further grasp suture needles without causing damage to the forceps.
2. Description of the Related Technology
In many surgical procedures (operation) the surgeon is required to hold, lift or displace tissue, blood vessels and/or walls of organs. During the operation the surgeon must positively grip tissue, blood vessels and/or walls of organs in a manner which causes as little damage thereto as possible. The surgeon typically uses surgical forceps to positively grip these tissues. The surgical forceps, generally, are tweezer shaped, have two branch arms joined at a proximate end, and have open opposing tips at an opposite distal end. The opposing tips are springingly biased open. The surgeon grasps the two branches together and must gently close the opposing tips so as to grasp the tissue, blood vessels and/or walls of organs without damage thereto.
The surgical forceps are designed to grip the tissue, blood vessels and/or walls of organs with a positive grip but with minimal trauma thereto. Various sizes of forceps (i.e., length and width) having different types of opposing tips may be utilized depending upon the type of operation, area of the body, the tissue, blood vessels and/or walls of organs involved. The opposing tips may comprise straight, curved, serrated, toothed, ring shapes, etc. The opposing tips also may be designed in various sizes depending on the intended use of the forceps.
Surgical forceps, generally, are made of stainless steel, or titanium. Titanium forceps are light in weight, corrosion resistant and very strong. Some surgical forceps have been designed with an alignment pin attached to one of the branch arms and adapted to mate with an opposing alignment hole in the other branch arm. The alignment pin and hole are biased toward the distal end of the forceps and are used for keeping the tips in alignment when pressed together. Generally, the alignment pin slidingly engages the alignment hole when the forceps branch arms are squeezed together. Depending upon the dimensional clearance of the pin and hole, and the coefficient of friction of the material comprising the alignment pin and hole, the frictional resistance may cause an increase in the squeeze force necessary to close the tips together. This increase in frictional resistance causes an unwanted loss of tactile feel to the surgeon of the tissues being manipulated during the operation. The weight of the forceps and the spring stiffness of the attached proximate end of the forceps also contribute to the tactile feel of the surgeon during manipulation of the tissues with the forceps.
Forceps are generally designed for manipulation of tissue, blood vessels and/or walls of organs during the surgical procedure. A needle holder is used to insert and withdraw a suture needle attached to suture thread. The opposing tips of the forceps must be designed for delicate non-traumatic manipulation of generally soft body tissues, while the needle holder must grasp a suture needle. Typically, however, during an operation a surgeon uses the forceps to withdraw a suture needle or the suture thread. Using the forceps to withdraw the suture needle will damage the delicate tissue handling tips and render the forceps useless for another operation.
The surgical forceps is designed for a balance between proper tip alignment and ease in squeezing the branch arms together. Proper tip alignment is obtained by the proximate ends of the branch arms being rigidity attached together. The wider and/or thicker the material joining together the proximate ends of the two branch arms, the better the branch arm alignment rigidity. However, when less material joins the two branch arms together, the feel of the forceps is more sensitive, i.e., less force is required to close and to hold the tissues.
The alignment pin and hole prevent overlapping (misalignment) of the opposing tips, but do not prevent excessive force from being applied to the opposing tips. The surgeon may grasp the forceps anywhere along its longitudinal axis, and depending upon the position of the surgeon's fingers on the branch arms, the pressure applied at the distal opposing tips may vary greatly. Spring tension of the branch arms and frictional components added by the alignment pin engaging the alignment hole also add to the unpredictability of the pressure applied to the distal opposing tips. Too much pressure inadvertently applied to the branch arms by the surgeon can cause trauma to the grasped tissues.
What is needed is a surgical forceps that can manipulate delicate tissues with minimal trauma thereto, yet have adequate traction, maintain correct alignment of the opposing tips over a wide range of closure pressures, and be resistant to damage when used to withdraw a suture needle.